Impostor Syndrome Isn’t a Flaw. It’s an Overactive Alarm.
Once you understand it, you can choose how to respond in the moments that matter.
I recently began working with a founder who’s built a 100 million dollar company from scratch.
No outside money. No shortcuts. Almost a decade of grit, intuition, and operational excellence.
He leads from experience and straight talk. His people trust him.
Yet he’s been wrestling with something most executives would never admit out loud.
He feels strong with his operators. He’s the keeper of the culture, the steady hand, the builder who beat the odds.
But in front of the executive team he hired, he feels smaller than he knows he is.
Same company.
Same mission.
Two completely different versions of himself.
When he walks into a room of seasoned executives with big resumes, his voice tightens, he loses his train of thought and stumbles over his words, and he feels pressure to sound like the kind of corporate leader he imagines they expect.
If you’ve felt this, you’re not alone.
Impostor Feelings Aren’t a Defect. They’re a Reaction.
Psychologists often talk about impostor syndrome as something to eliminate.
And for sure, it’s tied to anxiety, stress, and burnout.
But there’s another very human layer.
Impostor feelings tend to appear when something we value - like our identity or our reputation - feels at risk.
It’s not irrational.
It’s protective.
It’s the voice that whispers,
“Don’t mess this up. Don’t let them see this part.”
It’s trying to help.
It’s just not the voice that should be running the meeting.
A Conversation That Changed Everything
I asked him a simple question.
“When you walk into that executive meeting, which version of you speaks first?”
Not the founder who built the company.
Not the operator with instincts you can’t teach.
Not the culture carrier his people look to.
What shows up is a younger and more anxious version.
One that wants to avoid embarrassment, avoid being exposed, and avoid losing what he’s worked so hard to build.
A version many leaders know intimately but rarely acknowledge.
By looking straight at it, he realized something important.
That anxious voice isn’t wrong.
But it isn’t supposed to be in charge.
He didn’t need to banish it.
He just needed to give it a different job.
“You can keep watch. I really appreciate you looking out for me.
But you don’t need to lead the room.”
That small shift changed his posture, his tone, and the way he walked into work the next day.
He remembered.
He built this place. He shaped the culture. He knows the heartbeat of the company better than anyone.
The version of himself that’s supposed to lead stepped forward.
Not perfectly. But enough to feel like himself again.
A Better Way To Understand Your Own Doubt
Here’s a more useful way to think about impostor feelings.
They show up when the stakes are high.
They try to protect something important.
They just choose the wrong moments to jump in.
The goal isn’t to beat impostor syndrome.
The goal is to recognize what’s happening and choose intentionally.
“Which version of me belongs at the front of the room right now?”
Most executives don’t need more confidence.
They need stronger internal leadership — the ability to choose which internal voice takes the lead when the pressure rises.
The Real Lesson
My client didn’t suddenly become more qualified.
He didn’t rehearse harder.
He didn’t perform “confidence”.
He simply recognized which voice had been taking the lead.
And he handed the room back to the version of himself that knows what it’s doing.
If you’ve ever felt yourself shrink in a room you’re fully qualified to lead, you’re not alone.
According to Korn Ferry, 71 percent of U.S. CEOs say they feel objectively competent at their jobs but still experience impostor syndrome symptoms.
The power you think you’ve lost is usually still there.
It’s waiting for you to put the right version of yourself back in charge.
A Question For You
When the stakes feel high, which version of you tends to take the lead?